Introduction

Before you start to play online you should have taken some time to setup your game.

Settings

Apart from having appropriate graphics settings for your computer -- to maximize the games speed while balancing visuals -- refer to the Performance Guide for this -- you should also have a unique name so that others can recognize you.

Ogros' Etiquette Reference

The ogros have an evolutionary history, a society -- hence some etiquette:

End-of-match: the traditional shorthand gg can mean anything from good game to gross gore. Say it, it's traditional!

Team killing: When joined up into teams, it's considered polite to mumble "tk" after TKing as soon as the situation permits.

Voting: if a vote was called, but you prefer playing as is, say so too! If you are master talk to players about which maps they'd like to play!

Kick/ban/locked/mastermode: masters shouldn't abuse their powers, players shouldn't nag masters -- just accept it if a master allows you as a spectator only!

Join/disconnect: it would be polite to annouce yourself on join with at least saying "hi", and "bye" before leaving.

Finding a Game

Go to the multiplayer menu, and update from the master server. You will then see the current online games.

The server browser displays enough basic information about a respective game to help you choose the right server for yourself. Take note of indicators for private and locked mastermodes (where it shows "P" or "L" next to number of players).

Game Modes

The game runs in a range of different modes. Internally they are mapped to the indexes [-2 .. 0 .. 13], with modes less than zero being the Singleplayer modes. The modes all have their own little special flavor, so you have -- in theory -- 16 different games instead of just one -- though technically, 15 games and a cooperative editing mode. The Trooper Edition (March 5, 2009) has brought some new ones.

The current multiplayer modes are 0-13, with the special mode 1 - for coop-edit.
Singleplayer modes all have a negative index - also don't forget your aliases (like sp, ffa, insta, ...)

For completeness we'll list the SinglePlayer modes here too, which of course aren't available during a multiplayer game.

Cooperative editing in-game, for more information on this mode, refer to the Cooperative Editing

2

ffa/duel

same as ffa/default

3

teamplay

basic teamplay mode

4

instagib

Your classic 1-shot-1-kill type of game, no items spawn in this mode - it's just movement and aiming that can keep you alive longer than your enemy. Players respawn right away after being fragged. Your only weapons are a rifle with 100 shots, and your fist - which does for quick frags when up close to your enemy, since it's "rate of fire" is more rapid.

5

instagib-team

teamplay instagib.

6

efficiency

You spawn with a random subset of ammunition, thus giving you a temporary assignment (especially in team mode) or simply forcing a certain tactical approach on you. Players respawn right away after being fragged.

7

efficiency team

teamplay efficiency.

8

capture

This is a completely different approach to your regular capture: For starters, frags are not counted at all. The goal is to keep certain bases under your control for as long as possible. Your team is continously awarded points for each base it has currently captured - the more bases you hold for a longer time the more your teams score will increase. If your team manages to capture all bases on the map the match is ended, otherwise it ends after the 15 minute timelimit. When you have been fragged you will stay in limbo for 10 seconds before attempting to spawn next to one of your teams bases, preferrably the one closest to your enemies. This mode is akin to the Domination mode found in Unreal Tournament.

9

instacapture

capture with instagib

10

regencapture

like capture but without a respawn timer and the bases you own regenerate your health, armour and ammo when you stand close

11

tactics

tactics

12

tactics-team

teamplay tactics

Changing Modes and Maps

When playing online you can change the current mode and current map being played by voting for a new game. This is done either via the menu or by simply typing the command to the console (which is easier to show here).

/insta curvedm

Or in full..

/mode 4; map curvedm

This will vote for an instagib match on the map curvedm ("Curves That Kill").

Only the MASTER is able to move SPECTATORS back into the game or KICK people.
A kicked player will not be allowed to reconnect until the server goes empty thus emptying the ban-list or until the master issues the command clearbans manually.

The master has a range of commands at his disposal :

setmaster 1|0 : claim or relinquish MASTER

mastermode 0|1|2|3 : set the mastermode (see above)

spectator B N : with 1 for on, 0 for off will set/unset SPECTATOR for player N.

setteam N T : forcibly sets player N on team T

kick N : kick a player by name or client-id (visible for MASTER on score-table)

If you are MASTER you will see the clients ID behind their names on the scoreboard,
other players will see your name in green so they know who is MASTER.

The MASTER should use his powers wisely.
Don't kick people randomly and don't switch map/mode without a good reason - especially if the other players are busy enjoying the current game. Even though you can use your VETO power to overrule everybody else. If you abuse your powers, chances are the players will change to another server to free themselves from your oppressive rule.

Team Modes

All multiplayer ogros/ironsnouts are either enemies or teammates.
The red ones are enemies,
the blue ones are on your team.
In capture mode this is also true for the radar blips.
Team names are just that, even if you are on team red your team-mates show up in blue!

Currently the two default teams are good and evil.

In certain cases you will be auto-assigned to a team,
so be sure not to be too fixed on certain playernames ... shoot the red guys!

SP:SinglePlayer .. you'll never fight one of these in a multiplayer match

Note : the ogro will be replaced by ironsnout in the release after 2007-05-13 ("spring").

Server Hosting

Setup

If you want to host your own server you should be sure to have setup your network accordingly.
To enable access from a WAN (read internet) your routing needs to forward the games ports (see below); for LAN gaming see the following section about local network gaming.

Player VS. Speed

A home DSL connection upstream is rumoured to be sufficient to host a 6-player-server, this is currently standard for a server without stating another number in the passed parameters ("-cX" for X players), it used to be 4 before we got a good overhaul on the network code, which slimmed down the packets nicely. Another feat brought to you by the dilligent team of developers behind your favourite multiplayer fps game!

Configuration

For a complete list of parameters always check the documentation: docs/config.html under section command line options,
also read up on stuff you can do in docs/game.html (bottom).

Take note of the possibility to set a master-password, which will give you MASTER even though somebody else already is. Because you know the servers master-password. Use comand line param -pS for this, where "S" is your password, this is never sent to any clients.

If you are unsure as how to setup your network & firewall correctly, there are some useful hints in the following paragraphs. We can't explain every little detail about this complex subject and encourage you to use the rest of the documentation for additional help!

Public or Private?

If you do not want your server to be registered on the masterserver then simply point it to a non-working masterserver, most common would be -mlocalhost. By default the official masterserver is contacted and will, if traffic is found possible, then add your server for everbody updating their serverbrowser menu.

Router and Ping Response

If you get a message like "server did not respond to ping" your ports aren't being forwarded correctly yet. On the forum a lot of router issues were resolved by pointing to portforward.com. Unfortunately a number of ISPs seem to hand out routers that are incapable of forwarding ports, if you have been given such a device you will, sadly, not be able to host a server.

The UDP ports you need to forward (or DNAT) to your local box (running the server) are 28785 and 28786.

LAN Play

On your LAN the limit of players will probably only depend on the processing power of the hosting server. Use the "-cX" parameter to enable a maximum of X players, the default assumes a WAN setup, so is far lower than you'd like. The clients can use:

/lanconnect

To connect to this server easily.

If you are preparing for a LAN-party you might want to take some time to distribute common keybindings and/or integrate this into the menu for all players.

Internet Play

If you are playing on the internet you should be aware that sometimes players might be cheating.
This is a problem that arises with every game to some degree, open source makes this issue maybe even more relevant.

The way to protect from cheaters, or simply keeping "your" game under control - is using a MASTER.
The MASTER player will be colourized in the SCORE table, so you can contact this player in case you have any issues with the current game.

Voting can be forced by the MASTER (requires mastermode 1 (VETO)), the MASTER can also set the game to be LOCKED (future connects go directly into SPECTATOR) or even set the game to PRIVATE mode, which bans all future connects. See the MASTER description for details.
Regular voting works by somebody calling a mode and map - which will be output on every players console.

If you agree you should simply call the same mode/map combination (e.g. via the multiplayer menu or by typing in manually). As soon as more than 50% of the players have agreed the game will switch to the desired mode/map combination.